Planning a real life BSP

If you plan to host a real life BSP, there are several things you should consider before announcing such an event:

Number of Developers

This is the most important aspect when planning a BSP. To make it actually worthwhile, you need more than one person attending. On the other hand, too many developers are often quite unproductive (at least regarding the objective of a BSP), as they tend to discuss unrelated issues.

Accommodation

After getting a rough idea how many people are planning to attend, two places need to chosen. One central place for the actual hacking, with a reasonable network connection and if possible a local server providing a Debian ftp-mirror. You also need to find one or more locations where the attending non-locals can sleep - they'll always bring sleeping bags and air mattresses, so only a bit of free space is needed. BSPs are not about comfortable sleeping!

Food

Remember that hackers don't run on IP connectivity and pure air - they need something to eat and drink. This means that you should plan how this can be managed without too much improvisation. Noone expects you to pay, but perhaps a local sponsor can be found for the event. Please note that some people are vegetarians or vegans.

Infrastructure

You will need a reliable network infrastructure. Both a fast local network and a good connection to the internet are absolutely needed - most of the needed information for a BSP is stored in the BTS or PTS! A local mirror can speed up things a lot (and reduce the load on your internet connection). Depending on the number of participants, power might become an issue.

Date

Choose the date carefully! Even hackers have non-computer interests, so the final game of the soccer world championship is probably not the best time for a BSP.

Attendees

You will want to have experienced Debian folks present so that they can help people who are not so experienced. The main places you can find Debian people from your city are the keysigning offers and need pages. The release party, Debian Day and local groups pages might also be of use in finding Debian folks in your city. If all of the above fail you can contact the Debian developer community to ask them to search the developer database.